A number of guards or barriers have been proposed in the prior art to protect small children, and others, from heated surfaces of cooking ranges or stoves. Canadian Patent 1,230,790 provides one such example of a safety device apparatus for use on a stove or a range. The device of this prior art is readily moveable to provide access to the cooking surface. However, such a device would have little practical use if it must be removed or moved into an "out of the way position" in order to use the range or stove.
Another such device is found in Canadian Patent Application 2,020,754. This patent application describes a rigidly and firmly attached shield to a conventional stove by using attachment screws, already provided for connecting the oven to the stove front wall, to attach the shield to the stove. According to this application, the shield is spaced from the stove surface, such that it does not tend to become hot (due to heat conduction from the stove surface).
The problem of the stove guards themselves becoming hot, and thus becoming a hazard, was also addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,255. It is respectfully submitted, however, that the prior art does not provide a stove-top guard or barrier, which would not become heated to a degree, which could be injurious if a small child were to make contact with the barrier. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,255 uses a clamping assembly to attach the barrier to the stove-top. Such a clamping assembly itself would become heated while the stove is in use. Furthermore, it is submitted that neither of the prior art references noted above, which disclose the problem of the barriers themselves becoming heated when the stove is in use, would remain cool if the stove were in use for an extended period of time.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a barrier or guard for a stove-top or a range, which actively addresses the question of heat dissipation so that the barrier itself does not become a hazard when the stove or range is in use. The present invention is thus directed to a novel stove-top guard, which comprises a venting system, which vents any heat which is transferred to the guard from the stove, when in use. The guard of the present invention can also comprise a means to reduce or slow any transfer of heat to the guard from the stove, when in use.